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ON THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OF 



ABRAHAM HOWARD QUINCY, 

DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OF THE 

GRAND LODGE OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 

IN THE FOUNDRY MEETING-HOUSE AT WASHINGTON CITY, ON THE 
FIFTEENTH OF NOVEMBER, 1840, 

BY CLEMENT T. COOTE, P. M. G. L.. 



" THIS MORTAL MUST PUT ON IMMORTALITY." 



WASHINGTON : 
P. FORCE, PRINTER. 

1840. 









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*lM ^©8>l&|3j®® 



ON THE 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OF 



ABRAHAM HOWARD QUINCY, 

DELIVERED AT THE REQUEST OF THE 

GRAND LODGE OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, 

IN THE FOUNDRY MEETING-HOUSE AT WASHINGTON CITY, ON THE 
FIFTEENTH OF NOVEMBER, 1840, 

BY CLEMENT T. COOTE, P. M. G. L» 



" THIS MORTAL MUST PUT ON IMMORTALITY." 



r %/ 



FOR SALE AT THE BOOKSTORES OF WASHINGTON. 
ALEXANDRIA, GEORGETOWN, AND BOSTON. 



4 

i/ <h> 



ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR MDCCCXL, BY CLEMENT T. 
COOTE, IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF 
COLUMBIA. 



PETER FORCE, PRINTER* 
TENTH STREET, 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia, 

Washington, December 1, A. L. 5840. 

Sir and Brother : I perform a most pleasing duty, in communicating to 

you the following Resolutions of this Grand Lodge, passed on the afternoon 

of the 15th ultimo. 

Very fraternally, your Brother, 

J&MES LAWRENSON, 

Sec. Grand Lodge D. C. 
C. T. Coote, Esq., P. M. Grand Lodge. 

" Resolved, unanimously, That the thanks of this Grand Lodge be, and the 
same are hereby tendered to our excellent and beloved Past Master, C. T. 
Coote, Esq., for his admirable Eulogy, delivered this day, on the Life and 
Character of our deceased Brother, Abraham Howard Quincy. 

" Resolved, further, That the R. W. Secretary of the Grand Lodge be re- 
quested to wait on Brother Coote, and request the favor of him to furnish a 
copy of the said Eulogy, at his earliest convenience, for publication." 



Sir and Brother: I am favored with your communication of the 1st in- 

stant, enclosing Resolutions relating to the Address delivered on 15th ultimo, 

on the Life and Character of our late Brother, Abraham Howard Quincy. I 

beg to inform the Grand Lodge, that, in compliance with their flattering re- 

quest, I have placed a copy of the said Address in the hands of P. Force, 

Esq., for publication ; and am, fraternally and respectfully, yours, 

CLEMENT T. COOTE. 
To James Lawrenson, Esq., 

Secretary of Grand Lodge, District of Columbia. 



TO 

THE BEREAVED FAMILY 

OF HIS REMOVED FRIEND, 

THIS BRIEF AND FRAIL MEMORIAL, 

INTENDED AS A SOLACE IN THEIR AFFLICTION, 

IS MOST SINCERELY INSCRIBED, BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



ADDRESS. 



Brethren and Friends: 

That divine and Eternal providence, which over- 
rules all events, and is gradually and perpetually open- 
ing, to his intelligent creatures, the purposes of the all- 
wise Creator and Governor of the universe concerning 
them ; in their relative, social, and moral capacities, 
and their future state of being; has, by a recent dis- 
pensation, removed a venerable and much esteemed 
brother from our paternal social circle, in which as- 
sociation he had stood, a highly distinguished member, 
and an able advocate, for more than thirty years. 

Upon this solemn and interesting event, and under 
the influence of feelings and sentiments that such an 
occurrence could not fail to produce in the minds of the 
fraternity, the Grand Lodge of the District of Colum- 
bia has now convened, and in this convention many 
members of long standing in the order have united, to 
show the token of the high respect, and the sign of the 
great regard, in which they held their true brother and 
most excellent friend, Abraham Howard Quincy; 
whose spirit has left its temporary tabernacle of mor- 
tality in the wilderness, and has soared to scenes be- 
yond the ken of our bounded mortal vision — to God 
who gave it. 



Our departed brother was initiated into the mysteries 
of the order, and took the degrees, in Lebanon Lodge, 
Boston, in the State of Massachusetts, in the Anno Lu- 
cius, 5808, A. M., 1808, and of which Lodge he con- 
tinued a member of high standing until 1833. Having, 
in 1832, become a resident of the City of Washington, 
his diploma was obtained from Lebanon Lodge, under 
the certificate and seal of the Grand Lodge of the State 
of Massachusetts, and he united with Federal Lodge 
No. 1, in this city. Of this Lodge he continued a 
valuable member until Providence dissolved that bond 
of union. 

Our brother was punctual in filling his station at the 
stated meetings of the Lodge, unless prevented by in- 
disposition, and had frequently some communication of 
an interesting character to make to the Lodge, that his 
presence might be considered indicative of, and gene- 
rally produced, a meeting of more than ordinary satis- 
faction. He seemed to impersonate, in his demeanor 
and character, much that is typified in the emblems 
and usages of the order ; the symbols of stability, up- 
rightness, and truth, appeared as his columns, and the 
implements of the craft marked the arch-key of his 
character. Our brother was honored with a diploma, 
as the representative of the Grand Lodge of the State 
of New-York, in the Grand Lodge of the District of 
Columbia. 

Our brother has left, at the call of the Supreme, those 
interesting scenes of his activity and usefulness, forever. 
He shall arise no more at the sound of the gavel, the 
sweet call of affection, the voice of friendship, or the 
powerful impulse of patriotism ; they have all ceased 



to charm him, and "the place that once knew him shall 
know him no more forever." But that Infinite Intelli- 
gence, whose watchful care and all-seeing-eye neither 
slumbereth nor sleepeth, and within whose universal 
dominion chance has no being ; protracted the contin- 
uance of our brother beyond the ordinary extent of hu- 
man existence ; he had passed his three score years and 
ten, before the lengthening shadows of life's declining 
day softly closed around his terrestrial horizon. 

The thin but imperiously separating veil that divides 
between corruptible materiality and incorruptible im- 
materiality, time from eternity, our present state from 
another state of life ; and which forever excludes all 
the weaknesses and encumbrances of embodied mortal 
humanity from the abode of spirits, by the divine com- 
mand, and an overruling dispensation, has been drawn 
aside for our brother ; who has passed that veil, and ex- 
perienced the almost inconceivable reality of a soul 
divested of the habiliments of mortality, disembodied, 
disenthralled, in a new world, and in a new state of 
separate existence. 

" This is the bud of being, the dim dawn, 
The twilight of our day, the vestibule ;" 
Life's real scenes, as yet, are closed, and death — 
'Tis death alone that opes the gates of life, 
" And makes us, embryos of existence, free." 

Abraham Howard Quincy appears, from history, to 
have descended from an honorable and ancient family 
from Normandy ; for it is stated by Matthew Paris, who 
was an historian that flourished in the thirteenth cen- 
tury, that Robert de Quincy came to England, from 
Normandy, with William the Conqueror ; and that his 
son Robert was the father of Saer de Quincy, who was 



8 

created Earl of Winchester, by King John, in the year 
1207. 

This Saer de Quincy was one of the Barons who 
signed the Convention between the King and the Ba- 
rons, on which Magna Charta was founded. The Hon. 
John Adams, late President of the U nited States, stated 
that he had seen the original signature, yet preserved, 
in the British Museum. Roger de Quincy, the son of 
Saer, succeeded his father to the title, as Earl of Win- 
chester, in the year 1219, and died, without issue male, 
in 1264, when the title of Earl of Winchester became 
extinct in that family. 

With respect to the origin of the name, it should 
be observed, the learned Camden informs us, that 
surnames in families began to be taken up in France 
and in England about the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand ; and he adds, " that the most in number, the most 
ancient, and of best account, have been local ; deduced 
from places in Normandy, and the countries confining, 
being either the patrimonial possessions or native places, 
of such as served the Conqueror, or came in after, out 
of Normandy." 

The family of Quincy originally called themselves 
De Quincy, which is as much as to say, of Quincy. It 
would appear that they took their surname from a place 
of that name in Normandy, or not far from it. 

The name of De Quincy has been of long contin- 
uance in France. The historian Philip de Comines, 
who wrote in the latter part of the fifteenth century, 
mentions that in the time of the war between the Duke 
of Burgundy and the French King, Charles VIII, a 
gentleman of the name of Simon de Quincy was in 



high esteem at the Court of the Duke, and was by him 
employed to negotiate a peace between him and the 
King. 

It is stated, also, that there was lately a Marquis de 
Quincy, who wrote a military history of the wars under 
Louis XIV. 

The name appears to have been very honorable in 
England in ancient times, after the title of the Earl of 
Winchester had became extinct ; for it appears from a 
letter, dated 22d April, 1778, written at Oakley, North- 
amptonshire, that the daughters of those Earls, (viz : of 
Winchester,) married into the most illustrious families in 
the Kingdom ; and many of them now quarter the same 
arms that were used in 1778, by Samuel Quincy, Esq., 
and his descendants. Samuel Quincy was a branch of 
the Quincy family in America, and left this country in 
1776; and the original arms, of the originally ennobled 
family, were therefore furnished to him from the office 
of the Herald-at-Arms, in London. 

There is a history of Northamptonshire, by Mr. 
Bridges, only one volume of which was published, in 
which is given an account of the family, and particu- 
larly of a daughter of the Earl of Leicester, of the name 
of Quincy, being married to the Earl of Northampton ; 
and that Castle- Ashby, the seat of the present Earl 
of Northampton, in the County of Northampton, was 
given as a marriage dower to that lady. 

It is stated, on the same historical authority, " that 
the Quincy s, no doubt, came to England, from Nor- 
mandy, with William the Conqueror." 

One branch of the family left England, and came to 

New England, seeking, in the western wilderness, an 

2 



10 

asylum from civil and religious persecution. This 
emigrant was Edmund Quincy, who, with his family, 
came from England with the Reverend John Cotton, 
and arrived at Boston in the month of September, 
1633, being rather less than thirteen years after the 
first Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. 

In November following, his name, and that of his 
wife, are mentioned on the records of the first church 
in Boston. 

He was elected, the May succeeding, by the town 
of Boston, one of its first representatives to the first 
General Court held in the Colony ; and it appears, by 
the records of the town, that " on the tenth day of 
ninth month, 1634, Edmund Quincy and others were 
appointed to make and assess a tax of thirty pounds to 
Mr. Blackstone," to purchase his right and title to the 
Peninsula of " Shawmut," now Boston. 

In the year 1635, the town of Boston granted lands, 
at Mount Wollaston, to William Coddington and Ed- 
mund Quincy, who took possession of them the follow- 
ing year. 

Honorable mention is also made of him in a sermon 
preached by the Rev. Mr. Hancock, the father of the 
late Governor, on the death of the Edmund Quincy, 
who died in 1788, at Braintree, aged eighty-five years; 
where it is stated that he came early into Boston, was 
a member of the old church there in the year 1 633, and 
that he died in 1636, in the thirty- third year of his 
age. 

Edmund Quincy, the only son of the abovenamed 
Edmund, was born in England, in 1627. He inherited 
and settled upon his father's estate at Mount Wollaston, 



11 

afterwards Braintree, now Quincy ; was a Magistrate 
of the County, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Suffolk 
Regiment. He died in 1697, having had two sons, 
Daniel and Edmund. Daniel died before his father, 
leaving one son, John, born in 1689. 

John Quincy, the son of Daniel, the eldest son of 
Edmund, who died before his father, was a resident of 
the town of Braintree, and one of the most distin- 
guished public characters of that period. He held the 
office of Speaker of the House of Representatives 
longer than any other person, during the charter grant- 
ed by William and Mary ; served as representative of 
the town of Braintree, and as a member of the Execu- 
tive Council, successively, for forty years. His paternal 
estate, on which he resided during his whole life, is 
now the property of his great grand-son, John Quincy 
Adams. 

Edmund, the younger son of Edmund Quincy, was 
born in Braintree, in October, 1681, was graduated at 
Harvard College in 1699, and entered early into pub- 
lick life, as representative of the town of Braintree, 
and afterwards as a member of the Executive Council. 
He held the commission of Judge of the Supreme 
Court from the year 1718 until his death. In a con- 
troversy that occurred between the Province of Mas- 
sachusetts-Bay and New-Hampshire, relative to their 
respective boundaries, he was appointed by the Gene- 
ral Court of Massachusetts their agent at the Court of 
Great Britain. In December, 1737, he embarked for 
England on that mission. Soon after his arrival in 
London he died of the small-pox, on the 23d of Feb- 
ruary, 1738, at the age of fifty-seven years. 



12 

The General Court of Massachusetts, as an acknow- 
ledgment of his worth, and considering that his life 
had fallen a sacrifice to the public, made a donation of 
one thousand acres of land in the town of Lenox, in 
the County of Berkshire, to his heirs; and caused a 
monument to be erected to his memory, over his grave 
in Bunhill-Fields, London, at the expense of the Pro- 
vince of Massachusetts, which bears an elegant Latin 
inscription. A handsome oration was pronounced at 
the grave by the Rev. Mr. Dunham, a dissenting minis- 
ter, residing in London. 

This Edmund Quincy left two sons, Edmund and 
Josiah. Edmund, the eldest, born at Braintree in 1703, 
was educated at Harvard College, and received his de- 
gree in 1722. He was for many years a merchant in 
Boston, and afterwards resided on his patrimonial es- 
tate at Braintree ; was the author of a " Treatise on 
Hemp Husbandry," published in 1765, and died an act- 
ing Magistrate of the County of Suffolk, in July, 1788, 
at the age of eighty-five years, leaving a son named 
Jacob Quincy, and a daughter, who became the wife 
of the late Governor Hancock, and died in 1829, at a 
very advanced age. 

Jacob Quincy was several years an eminent physician 
in Boston, and died there in the year 1777, leaving a 
family of four sons and two daughters. The eldest son 
removed to Portland, in Maine, and resided there many 
years, distinguished as a merchant and a man. One of 
the daughters of Jacob Quincy was married to the Hon. 
Asa Clapp, of Portland, and is the mother of the wife 
of the present Hon. Levi Woodbury, Secretary of the 
Treasury of the United States. The second son of Ja- 



13 

cob Quincy was Abraham Howard Quincy, our valued 
friend and brother, on the occasion of whose decease 
we are now convened, to pay the tribute of our esteem 
to his memory. 

The lineal descent of the family of Quincy has been 
here distinctly traced for a period of six centuries and 
upward ; not, however, for the vain purpose of showing 
that a distinguished title of nobility was conferred upon 
their ancestors by a King of England, but to show that 
the family have been long distinguished as the untiring 
and efficient friends of liberty, and the unalienable 
rights of man; from as early a period, at the least, as 
the thirteenth century, when the call of the convention 
between King John and the Barons, at Runnymede, 
and which resulted in extorting from the King the grant 
of Magna Charta, in 1215, was signed by Saer de 
Quincy, the grandson of Robert de Quincy, who had 
accompanied William, Duke of Normandy, to England, 
and settled there ; and, also, further to show, that al- 
though six centuries have elapsed since the great charter 
of rights was obtained by the Barons, for themselves 
and for the people, and the love of liberty and right 
was evinced by their ancestor, Saer de Quincy, yet 
the events, and the triumphant struggles of liberty in 
our own country, within a little more than half a cen- 
tury, abundantly demonstrate that the decision of cha- 
racter and patriotic spirit, diffused by Providence into 
that family, was transmitted to their descendants, and 
has not been lost or diminished. 

The early settlers, in the eastern part of our country, 
were pilgrims, chiefly from England and Holland, who 
fled from religious and civil persecutions ; men, con- 



14 

scientious in their principles, and firmly decided in their 
characters. They found, that although the domination 
of their former persecutors (the Papists) was prostrated, 
they were now persecuted, in a somewhat milder form, 
under the Episcopal hierarchy, which required, by law, 
a conformity to certain rituals of the national religious 
establishment, or they would still stand proscribed of 
that full proportion of right in civil government, en- 
joyed by the Episcopalian portion of the community. 
They could not bend to worship God under an act of 
toleration granted by men, in violation of the dictates 
of their own consciences. 

Prescriptive forms of church government, relative to 
belief and practice, if established and enforced by the 
laws of a nation, will always be found proscriptive in 
their effects, and will produce, in the dominant sect at 
least, a spirit strongly tinctured with what is erroneously 
called religious persecution. 

The scenes of persecution through which they were 
led, early in the sixteenth century, would appear strong- 
ly to indicate that the unerring hand of Providence was 
training them, instructing and conducting them, as the 
pioneers of liberty, for a new and immense empire, (then 
a savage wilderness,) where they should establish a 
system of representative government, of equal rights ; 
where a just and impartial administration of the laws, 
made by the people, should demonstrate to every nation 
on the face of the earth, that man is capable of self- 
government, when he is not crushed below the natural 
dignity designed for him by his Creator. Even in Eng- 
land, notwithstanding its proscriptive corporation and 
test acts, and acts of uniformity, it has been truly assert- 



15 

ed, by a learned jurist of our own country, that " well 
might the Englishman, even of that day, when he 
looked around upon the neighboring countries, boast of 
his freedom ;"* and the early settlers were deeply im- 
bued with that noble and inherent spirit. 

Abraham Howard Quincy was born in Boston, in 
the month of November, 1767, and was the second son 
of Jacob Quincy, brother of the wife of the late Gover- 
nor Hancock. At the age of ten years he was deprived, 
by death, of the watchful and tender care of his father ; 
but the loss was, in a good degree, providentially sup- 
plied by a very affectionate and worthy uncle, John 
Williams, his mother's brother, of whom he often spoke 
with much regard and tenderness in after life. This 
uncle was appointed his guardian. The education he 
received was as good as could be obtained in the schools 
of that period, and he was blessed with a peculiar apt- 
ness for acquiring knowledge ; a strong memory re- 
tained, while the temperature of his judgment condens- 
ed, and his mind imbibed the spirit of what he read ; 
while passing events, of importance, produced perma- 
nent and influential impressions. 

In the boyhood of our friend, it is highly probable 
that his character was in a great degree formed by the 
glorious sight of the contest of the British and Ameri- 
can forces at Bunker's Hill, in June, 1775. He often 
adverted to the thrilling scene of " the spot where 
Warren fell;" a glorious struggle that animated his 
youthful bosom at the time, and the remembrance of 
which never failed to start the grateful patriotic tear 
of joy for his country's independence. 

* Memoir of John Adams, by lion, W. Cranch. 



16 

At the age of twelve or fourteen years his mind be- 
came much exercised with religious impressions, and 
at the age of seventeen he became a member of the 
first Baptist church in Boston, under the pastoral care 
of the Reverend Samuel Stillman, of which church he 
continued an active and esteemed member, until a branch 
from that church was constituted into a third Baptist 
church in Boston, under the pastoral care of the Rev. 
Dr. Sharp, of w 7 hich he became a member, and con- 
tinued, until after he had removed to the City of Wash- 
ington, in the year 1832. 

In the year 1784, being then of the age seventeen 
years, he entered into the employment of Samuel Smith, 
Esq., an extensive flour merchant in Boston, and con- 
tinued in that situation until he had passed his minority, 
and by whom he was very highly esteemed. 

In the year 1 788, then of the age of 21 years, on 
the 2d January, he was married to Miss Mary Holland, 
second daughter of Josiah Holland, Esq., of Boston ; 
from that period he became engaged in mercantile busi- 
ness in Boston, on his own account ; and possessing an 
active intelligent mind, and a great spirit of enterprise, 
he became eminent in his pursuits. From that period 
until 1812 he was very extensively immersed in com- 
mercial and manufacturing vocations. 

As might be supposed, by the relative connexion of 
our brother with the family of Governor Hancock, and 
by the highly cultivated circles in w 7 hich he moved in 
his native town and its vicinity, (distinguished as the 
Athens of our intelligence, and for the diffusion of 
knowledge,) he became early devoted to political inqui- 
ries ; and soon felt a deep and abiding interest in the 



17 

affairs of the country. Associating much with the dis- 
tinguished patriotic spirits of the times, with whom other 
branches of his family very largely participated, he be- 
came strongly identified with old Republican patriot- 
ism ; and in the years 1808 and 1809, became sole 
editor of a political paper called the " Columbian Detec- 
tor," published in Boston. 

Although deeply engaged at this time in mercantile 
pursuits, yet, as much editorial matter was thought re- 
quisite to extend his political views, his ardor in the 
cause of his country induced him frequently to devote 
many of the hours usually allotted to repose to those 
new, arduous, and patriotic duties. 

At this period the wrongs committed on our com- 
merce, and by the impressment of our seamen, became 
matters of much and just complaint, and produced a 
deep national feeling ; while the decided course taken, 
and pursued, by the " Columbian Detector" demon- 
strated that the spirit of 1776 was not annihilated. 

The first number of this publication was made on the 
18th November, 1808, and continued weekly during 
the first quarter ; but from the 10th May, 1809, it was 
published twice a week. As a sure indication of the 
talent and approved spirit with which it was conduct- 
ed, the subscribers in one month numbered three thou- 
sand, among whom were thirty members of Congress. 

The " Columbian Detector" was afterwards merged 
in the Boston Patriot, of which the editor of the " Co- 
lumbian Detector," in his concluding address to his 
patrons, says: " It is an excellent and decidedly republi- 
can paper, edited with great literary talents." Messrs. 
Everett and Monroe were then its editors. 
3 



18 

The energy, patriotism, and decision of political 
character, with which our brother commenced and con- 
tinued l\is labors, will be best exemplified by a few 
extracts from the editorial department, during its pro- 
gress. 

In the introductory address, in the first number, he 
says : " We enter the lists in support of our country with 
the thundering voice of truth. The important object of 
this publication, by which we arrest the public atten- 
tion, is no less than an attempt to contribute in correct- 
ing and reforming the present degenerate state of the 
public mind, and to place one more pillar in the tem- 
ple of civil liberty, whose basis is essentially our demo- 
cratic right of election." 

"The I Columbian Detector' shall be exclusively de- 
voted to that correct political information which con- 
cerns the dearest interests of our country, and the pre- 
cious freedom of its inhabitants ; its prime object being 
the detection of all the daily falsehoods, delusions, arts, 
and intrigues of party, or combinations of men, whose 
object shall appear to be the base attempt to dissolve 
our Union, divide our affections, cool our patriotism 
and love of country, and transfer them, from our free 
and happy Government, to that of any power on earth. 
Unlike many papers, the 'Columbian Detector' shall 
not be the channel for the communications and opinions 
of an individual, but devoted to the cause of the peo- 
ple. The voice of the people is the voice of God." 

The truly noble independence of spirit, honesty of 
purpose, love of country, and devotion to its interests, 
set forth in the prospective address, pervades and im- 
bues every editorial paragraph of the succeeding num- 



19 

bers ; and demonstrates — not the prating, parrot patriot- 
ism, of the head, but of a character that is entwined, 
with every fibre of sensibility and devotion, around the 
heart. 

The address to the patrons of the " Columbian De- 
tector" of the 14th March, 1809, is strongly confirma- 
tory of the predominance of this dignified and sacred 
principle. The editor says: "Actuated by motives no 
less pure than the most anxious desire to advance the 
interests of our country, to assist in securing for our- 
selves and for our children the rational and sublime 
liberty which this highly favored people alone enjoy, 
and which is now threatened to be betrayed by jealou- 
sies and divisions ; leading by division of sentiment to 
division of States ; to anarchy, civil w 7 ar, and, in quick 
succession, to military despotism and foreign vassalage : 
these considerations, and none other, we declare, (for all 
idea of gain from this publication we ever despised,) has 
induced us to come forward and publish the ' Colum- 
bian Detector.' ■ 

" Our time and three thousand dollars of our pro- 
perty we were cheerfully willing should be sacrificed 
for the public good, with no expectations of personal 
advantage, except by sharing, in common with our fel- 
low-citizens, the blessings of that peace, liberty, union, 
and security to property, which a free Government alone 
is capable of yielding. 

"We seek neither office, place, pension, nor power; 
ours is the free offering of citizens, who prefer death, in 
all its horrid forms, to the loss of that liberty for which 
our fathers' bled ; the one being an individual suffer- 
ing, the other a curse entailed on future generations. 



20 

" The importance deservedly attached to those pub- 
lications which vindicate the union, honor, and inde- 
pendence of our country ; the freedom and sacredness 
of its laws, are as locks which secure our property 
from the midnight thief, and our lives from the bold 
assassin." 

There are frequent instances of considerable acuteness 
and wit in the animadversions on the views of the op- 
posing political party. A democratic example : " The 
citizen who carries the most property into the regions 
beyond the grave should be allowed the most right at 
elections." Another example : " The opposition say ' they 
have all the men of wealth and influence on their side.' 
We are sorry, to be sure, to find so great a number of men 
because they have a little more of this world's good than 
their neighbors, want also to rob them of their rights 
and liberties ; though we believe, if the whole fraternity 
were to throw all into a common stock, and pay their 
debts out of the same, they would come out at the lit- 
tle end of the horn, and would find the supporters of 
the Government, after paying their debts, as wealthy 
and influential as their honors, though with less brassS' 

The " Columbian Detector," on all occasions, was 
the unbending advocate of the supremacy of law; de- 
claring that "liberty without law is tyranny in dis- 
guise;" that " no man deserves the protection of a 
country who refuses to obey its laws." 

The noblest and most generous sentiments of his 
heart, inspired by the most ardent devotion to the in- 
terests of his country, arose in devout aspirations of 
gratitude to the Governor of the universe, for the mani- 
festation of a returning sense of justice in the enemies 



21 

of his country, whereby peace would be preserved, and 
her prosperity accelerated and augmented. 

In the Columbian Detector of 28th April, 1 809, he ex- 
claims : " Let every lisping tongue pronounce the praises 
of Heaven, that, by a returning sense of justice in Great 

Britain, we have escaped Nothing short of the 

interposition of the Deity, in disposing the good people 
of the four nations — England, France, Spain, and Ame- 
rica — each to act their particular limited parts in the 
drama, could have averted the catastrophe." 

The period of the war with England, in 1812, pro- 
duced an entire change in the commercial and manu- 
facturing businesses, in which Mr. Quincy had been 
for a considerable time engaged ; and he removed his 
family to New- York, and there formed an association 
with gentlemen of high standing, as it regards talents 
and influence, to carry into operation an invention of 
his own mind. The undertaking promised the most 
desirable success ; but a mysterious and unforeseen 
event transpired, that frustrated all his plans, and those 
of his associates. 

At the close of the war he returned, with his family, 
to Boston, and resumed his former pursuits. In the 
year 1826 he was called to endure a very heavy afflic- 
tion and bereavement, in the loss of her who had been 
the partner of his joys and his sorrows for thirty-eight 
years, and who, after a protracted illness, was removed 
from time to eternity. 

Within three weeks from that period he was called 
to undergo another afflictive and bereaving dispensation 
of Providence, in the removal, by death, of a beloved 
daughter, from these transitory scenes to an eternal 



world, who died in the holy triumphs of faith in a cru- 
cified Saviour, at the age of eighteen years. 

From these heavily afflictive providences, he seemed 
to experience an increased weaned ness from the world, 
and often adverted to his connection with eternity, and 
of the importance of being prepared for that " inevi- 
table" change. 

In the year 1828, at the urgent solicitation of a com- 
pany of gentlemen from Maine, he was induced again 
to leave Boston, for Eastport, and undertook the edi- 
torial department of a political paper ; but his spirit, 
naturally independent, could not abide the restrictions 
under which his pen labored. The paper was called 
the " Northern Light," and was established with a view 
to a kind of amphibious neutrality; but the decided 
character of the editor in his politics, and his long 
established views of the policy and interests of his coun- 
try, rendered him peculiarly unfit to occupy a neutral 
position, and in a few months he relinquished his con- 
nection with that paper.* 

That rare individuality of talent that marked the 
editorial department of the a Columbian Detector" is 
strongly traced in the prospectus of the " Northern 
Light." The following extracts will fully exemplify 
this position. They were published on the 30th of 
April, 1828, with the name of "A. H. Quincy, edi- 
tor." 

He says : " We shall exhibit our country in that love- 
ly view to its friends, and that fearful view to its ene- 
mies, that facts warrant." " Education, that brilliant 
lamp to the human understanding, that illustrious sun in 

* See quotation at page 33 — "The spirit," &c. 



the mental firmament, shall receive our supreme devo- 
tion, as the grand key to the mystery of social and civil 
government. — We will not fail to improve the blessing 
of liberty, by assisting to diffuse the holy principle of 
representative government in every portion of the habit- 
able globe. — In treating of the intellectual principle in 
man, like the elemental thunder, we shall show that it 
expands as it explodes; and in yielding and diffusing, 
like the draught upon the living stream, it but increases 
the energy of the fountain." 

" Commerce, that life-blood of nations, which, start- 
ing from the centre, unites the extremes in friendly and 
healthy communication : its influence is as the social 
source of felicity — as the power by which the universal 
man is distinguished from the local beast — as the me- 
dium through which is diffused the principles of ani- 
mation to the busy, sentimental world — bounding the 
sway of tyrants, and giving the 'quick step ' to liberty. 

" Our light, however, shall give the signal whenever 
an administration betrays its trust, or treason raises its 
head in council. 

" The ability of our form of government, in peace or 
war, to acquire and secure man's highest earthly bliss, 
has been so decidedly evinced by fifty years' practical 
operations, that we are justified in saying that he that is 
not a republican, in such a republican country, must be 
an isolated being, of the species of the Phoenix, bom 
to live and die alone. 

" The spirit of our paper shall be as independent as 
the eagle in its flight; and although under the influence 
of counsel^ it cannot be under the influence of dicta- 
tion." 



24 

These transcripts exhibit that patriotic firmness of 
character, that noble mental independence, and that 
animating style, for which, as a political writer, Mr. 
Quiney w 7 as peculiarly distinguished. 

In the year 1832, in the 65th year of his age, he 
received an appointment in the Navy Department of 
the Government, which he accepted ; removed to Wash- 
ington in that year, and entered upon the duties, which 
he continued to discharge until within a short time of 
his decease. On all former occasions he had uniformly 
declined the offer of honorable or lucrative situations. 
The family, however, did not remove to Washington 
until the expiration of several months ; but an exten- 
sive correspondence during that period, and other pe- 
riods of occasional absence from them in his vocations, 
evinces the most interesting and tender regard, and 
was always calculated to improve the mind in things 
relative to rime, and to produce important impressions 
relating to eternity. Even when most extensively en- 
gaged in commercial pursuits, which continued for many 
years, his affectionate devotion to his family impelled 
him to share largely with them his leisure hours. 

The vigorous activity of his mind, in benevolent and 
philanthropic undertakings, began early to show itself 
after he reached Washington. The Sunday Schools 
primarily received from him the most important atten- 
tions. He found them languishing from neglect, or the 
want of well-directed efforts. His heart was always 
susceptible of strong impulses upon the important sub- 
ject of instruction ; his experience and talent were ap- 
plied to aid the teachers in various schools ; and he had 
soon the animating satisfaction of being the means of 



25 

resuscitating many, both in Washington and George- 
town, and of placing them in a prosperous and flourish- 
ing condition, in which they still continue. 

In the months of August and September, in the year 
1 832, the Asiatic Cholera, which appeared as the de- 
stroying angel, commissioned, and upon an awful flight, 
to scourge and desolate a world, visited Washington 
and its vicinity. On this occasion our brother was de- 
voted to doing all the good to the wretched sufferers 
that human agency could administer. He was, indeed, 
the "good Samaritan," and was, doubtless, the favored 
instrument of affording relief to many under that ter- 
rific and rapid disease. 

In the month of May, 1836, Mr. Quincy was re- 
ceived, by a commendatory letter from the Baptist 
Church under the pastoral care of Rev. Dr. Sharp, at 
Boston, of which until that period he had stood a 
member, into membership with the First Baptist 
Church in this city, which continued until his decease. 

During the intermissions of official duties, he was 
ever actively engaged in going about doing good, until 
within a few weeks of the close of his earthly career, 
which took place on the 1 1th day of September, 1840, 
in the 73d year of his age. 

" The chamber where the good man meets his fate 

Is privileged beyond the common walks 

Of virtuous life — it is the verge of Heaven." 

The leading traits in the character of our brother 
appear to have arisen from a lively susceptibility of 
heart, which imparted an additional brightness to his 
virtues, and led him to devote his talents for the good 
of mankind, He was a friend to the poor, a monitor 
4 



26 

to the rich, an example to all classes by his benevolence 
and compassion. He was never known to send a 
worthy object from his house empty; and to benevolent 
institutions he was a decided and liberal friend. He 
appeared to possess a large share of contentment under 
the allotments of Providence, and was therefore of a 
cheerful and lively disposition. The best feelings of 
our nature appear to have been habitual to him, and 
they were constantly excited by, and directed to the 
benefit of his country, and the improvement and hap- 
piness of man. 

Primary and Sunday Schools were objects of his 
earnest solicitude and anxious attention, with the view 
of preparing the soil, and sowing precious seed for a 
future rich harvest of intelligence and usefulness to his 
fellow-men and to his country. 

The cause of general education always found in him 
a powerful and untiring advocate. He considered it 
" the brilliant lamp of the human understanding — the 
sun of the mental firmament;" — while it is equally clear 
that the intelligence, integrity, patriotism, and unity of 
our country, form the only base that can sustain the 
Doric column of our free institutions — majestic in its 
simplicity. 

He was recently ardently and actively engaged in a 
project of his own, by which he considered the higher 
branches of knowledge might be communicated at an 
expense greatly reduced from the present charges, and 
thereby become accessible to all, or to a vastly increased 
number more than now obtain those advantages ; there- 
by accelerating the advance of truth, and the diffusion 
of knowledge,* 1 throughout the whole community — an 



27 

object honorable to his patriotism — honorable to his 
philanthropy. 

As a man, our brother was intelligent, social, and 
friendly. There was a perspicacity in his understanding 
that marked him above most other men. He appeared 
to see with a kind of intuitive perception whatever 
came before him, and he expressed himself with deci- 
sion. There was nothing sluggish in his conceptions, 
and, when once determined, nothing hesitating in his 
actions. As a memento of his persevering mental and 
physical industry, he has left several thousand pages of 
manuscript in prose and verse. 

As a Christian, he had stood an active, useful, and 
esteemed member of the Baptist denomination for fifty- 
six years. He was generally regular in his attendance 
on the public appointed means of worship ; and, at the 
meetings of supplication, he actively engaged, when in- 
vited orderly thereto, until within a few months of his 
removal. His mind was much exercised on divine sub- 
jects, and he seemed to realize his approaching connec- 
tion with eternity. 

The scriptural standard of the evidences of Chris- 
tianity seem to have formed the basis and the super- 
structure of his character: "To do justly, to love 
mercy, and walk humbly with thy God " — " to do good 
and to communicate, forget not " — " to visit the father- 
less and the widow in their affliction, and to keep un- 
spotted from the world." 

His faith was' exemplified by his works. u By their 
works ye shall know them." 

To say that our brother had no imperfections and 
peculiarities, would be a departure from truth. Sinless 



28 

beings arc not human beings. He often lamented that 
we were all far below what we ought to be under the 
gospel dispensation ; but he was enabled, by faith, to 
look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, even 
the Salvation of the soul. 

As a brother of the ancient order of Freemasonry, 
his conduct on all occasions fully justified the distinc- 
tions he attained. He was firmly attached to its prin- 
ciples, of which his character was a living commentary. 
He was regularly at his station in the Lodge, until in- 
firmity prevented ; and, until the connection was broken 
by his decease, he continued a very honorable member, 
worthy to wear the high emblems of integrity and 
truth, distinguished as those jewels have been by some 
of the noblest and most eminent of mankind. 

The sacred oracles, brethren, which are held by us 
as the great light of our order, and an observance of 
the course of human events, demonstrate that an Infi- 
nite Intelligence that never errs, an all comprehending 
Mind that sees the end from the beginning, " whose 
ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts as our 
thoughts," is carrying on his own eternal purposes in 
the general government of the universe, and in the espe- 
cial dispensations of his providence, towards all the 
beings that he hath created. " He openeth his hand 
and supplieth the wants of every living thing:" — "the 
eyes of all wait, on him, and he giveth them their meat 
in due season:" — " he turneth man to destruction, and 
saith, return ye children of men, for dust thou art, and 
unto dust shalt thou return." 

The progenitors of our race were created pure and 



29 

holy, with power to stand in the freedom of their own 
will, yet liable to fall ; and they were placed in the 
earthly paradise prepared for them by their beneficent 
Creator. They were, however, beguiled and seduced 
by the arch enemy of man, to disobey the one negative 
command given by their Maker as a test of their obe- 
dience; and the awful denunciation which accompanied 
that command was fulfilled upon them and their de- 
scendants hitherto, and will be, successively, upon all 
their posterity. 

God is infinitely holy, just, and good ; and every in- 
stance of mortality is a proclamation of his hatred of 
sin, and also of the purity and immutability of his cha- 
racter. The strong bonds of natural affection and fra- 
ternal regard, are therefore severed by the impartial and 
inevitable stroke. Those in whom we have delighted, 
are removed from our sight and cease to charm ; and 
we, at the appointed time, shall be taken from those who 
esteem us, and now have pleasure in our society. 

The messengers that Infinite Goodness usually em- 
ploys, to remind us of our transitory continuance upon 
the earth, are the effects produced by the original trans- 
gression — pain, sickness, and bodily infirmities — and 
these are generally the attendant heralds of our disso- 
lution. The frail and temporary tenement at length 
falls under the complication of "ills that flesh is heir 
to," and softly sinks into the silent, but not perpetual, 
abode appointed for all living, there quietly to repose 
and assimilate with its original dust, until the trium- 
phant dawn of the morning of the resurrection, when 
the trumpet of the Archangel shall sound, in effect, 
" arise and sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew shall 



30 

be as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall east forth 
her dead." 

We are prone to consider the afflictions and priva- 
tions that attend our present state, as incidental contin- 
gencies, which by chance break upon our waking 
dreams of the future, and disarrange the beautiful gos- 
samer foundations of our airy-built castles of present 
perfect human happiness ; but " the lot is cast into the 
lap, and the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord." 

The great " I AM" alone, whose infinite intelligence 
projected, and whose almighty essential word created 
a world of wonders ; whose volition gave existence and 
motion to all the systems that compose the universe ; 
who spoke chaos into order, and clothed our world with 
light, as with a garment of transcendent and ever va- 
rying beauty — he created all beings, organizing them 
with inimitable skill, adapting each of them to fill the 
station designed for them to occupy in the graduated 
scale of being, even from the bright and pure intelli- 
gences that surround his throne of ineffable glory, to 
the minutest particle of organized existence. In cre- 
ating and conducting this stupendous work, his infinite 
wisdom admits of no surprise, his omnipotence admits 
of no derangement; his general providence proceeds 
with these stupendous combinations in harmonious 
order. 

This Being, the glory and perfection of whose attri- 
butes are to finite minds inconceivable, and by mortal 
tongues unutterable, governs the world that we inhabit, 
and all the creatures that he has formed thereon, " and 
all that it inherit," with the almighty power, the same 
unremitting energy, the same providential benevolence 



31 

of purpose, the same indissoluble connection of cause 
and effect, means and end, as distinguish all the other 
works of his infinite mind and almighty hand. 

Thus, throughout his boundless and everlasting do- 
minion, is annihilated " that power which erring men 
call chance," and even the most remote possibility of 
any unseen contingency deranging his providential go- 
vernment. " He doeth according to his will, in the 
armies of Heaven and among the inhabitants of the 
earth, and performeth the purposes of his heart, to a 
thousand generations.-' 

All the changes, therefore, which are effected in our 
physical, moral, or relative, condition, or in the mode of 
our existence, are but the manifestations of eternal 
sovereignty, opening and unfolding to his rational crea- 
tures his providential mercy and goodness. 

Eternal ages before he commanded light to shine 
upon the sphere that we inhabit, he saw, through the 
long perspective of advancing time, every event that 
would transpire ;. therefore, what we consider as casual- 
ties, are but the openings of his purposes, by his provi- 
dence, according to his infinite foreknowledge — " that 
lime is gone forth into all the earth, and that word unto 
world's end ; there is no speech nor language where 
that voice is not heard ;" unto man it saith " seed time 
and harvest shall not fail. He crowneth the year with 
his goodness, and his paths drop fatness." — "He giveth 
the beast his food, and the young ravens when they 
cry." 

In the divinely inspired Volume it is as clearly revealed 
that the providence of the Supreme is equally directed 
to empires and kingdoms ; and " the history of great 



QO 



2 

nations, now no more," sustains the declaration, " that 
he setteth up one and pulleth down another." 

The history of our own country, though comparative- 
ly young as to its free institutions of civil government, 
will show most conclusively a thousand providential 
interpositions that sustained her cause against fearful 
odds ; preserved the precious lives of individuals when 
in the most imminent peril, who had been raised up 
and evidently prepared by Providence for rescuing this 
country from the threatened dependent and degrading 
vassalage, and elevating her to so high a rank among 
the nations of the world. 

" God gives to every man 
The virtue, temper, understanding, taste, 
That lii'ts him into life, and lets him fall 
Just in the niche he was ordained to fill. 
To the deliverers of an injured land 
He gives the tongue to enlarge upon, the heart 
To feel, the courage to redress her wrongs." 

The divine providence of the Supreme Governor 
can, however, only open itself to our perceptions, while 
we are in our present state of being, by events and 
scenes through which communities or individuals are 
called to pass ; but that volume of glory, the Christian 
dispensation, brethren, which we hail, and profess to 
hold as the greater light of our order in faith and prac- 
tice, not only figuratively, as " a lamp unto our feet 
and a light unto our paths, when we journey in dark- 
ness, and are led by Providence in a way we knew 
not," but as the glorious light of the "Sun of Right- 
eousness," that " shineth brighter and brighter unto the 
perfect day," and where infinite mercy has given unto 
us a revelation, and demonstration, of the resurrection 



33 

of the body to a spiritual, perpetual, and glorified ex- 
istence. 

The providence under which we have been especially 
convened — the living faith of our departed brother in 
this revivifying doctrine, and in the solemn truth of 
which every human being has an everlasting interest; 
to be silent would indicate an apathy that, to beings 
who must experience such a change, it would seem im- 
possible they should feel. 

The death of the body is the physical penalty " of 
man's first disobedience;" the execution of which sen- 
tence demonstrates that God has " compassion on the 
work of his hands,' 1 for he mercifully employs it as the 
means of the enlargement of the more glorious and 
God-like principle, the soul, from its present imprison- 
ment. The suspension of animal life in man, and a 
change in his mode of existence, owing to the corrup- 
tion of his nature by sin, became essential for his intro- 
duction to, and participation, body and soul, in an immor- 
tal and spiritual state of being. The change, therefore, 
which nature shrinks to approach, and surviving friends 
dread to witness, is the way, and the only way to ever- 
lasting life; "for corruption cannot inherit incorrup- 
tion." 

The brightest human intelligence that ever shed a ra- 
diance on our world, unaided by divine inspiration, has, 
by the flickering scintillations of hope, imagined it pos- 
sible that at. death the spirit of man might be elevated 
to a state of greater enjoyment ; but genius alone has 
never been able to surmount the clouds of doubt and 
darkness with which mortality overshadows a future 
state of being. 
5 



34 

In the Pagan religion we find a great deal of error, 
absurdity, superstition, idolatry, and immorality. While 
the vulgar were employed in worshipping idols, the 
philosophers had no just ideas of Providence, and very 
confused and erroneous sentiments of immortality. 

The Jewish religion was undoubtedly of divine ori- 
gin, yet it was local in its nature, and burdensome in 
its rituals ; it was designed only for one people — the 
descendants of Abraham, and to endure but for a short 
time. God separated them from all other nations, as a 
typical people ; and they were distinguished by his pe- 
culiar favors and blessings. He gave them, by Moses, 
his written moral law for their government, and by its 
spirituality, applying to the thoughts and intents of the 
heart, they stood convicted of guilt in their own con- 
sciences. The ceremonial law typified to them his pur- 
poses of mercy and method of pardon. Offerings for 
sin, and atoning sacrifices, were made ; — the sins of the 
people confessed on the head of an innocent victim ; the 
Pascal Lamb was slain, as typical of an atonement, and 
of an expiation for transgression. 

The typical and retributive character of the sacrifices 
and offerings under this dispensation, strongly illustrate 
the justice of the divine lawgiver, for it extended to 
sinful thoughts ; and " whoso breaketh the law commit- 
teth sin," and " he that offendeth in one point is guilty;" 
and for which a perfect satisfaction must be rendered to 
the divine law, or the sinner must remain under its con- 
demnation ; but for the strong manifestation of infinite 
love and mercy in the pardon of transgression through 
the obedience unto death of another, who was received 
in covenant as a surely or ransom, was reserved to be 



35 

unfolded in the dispensation of the glorious gospel of 
the Son of God. 

In the inspired prophetic records, under the Mosaic 
economy, the Father of Mercies was pleased early to 
disclose, and subsequently more fully to illuminate the 
dawnings of his purposes in relation to the resurrection 
of the body, and a future existence. 

Job was enabled, in the confidence of divine inspira- 
tion to say, " I know that my Redeemer liveth ; and that 
he shall stand at the last day upon the earth, whom 
mine eyes shall behold, and not another." Isaiah ex- 
presses a strong assurance : " Thy dead men shall live ; 
together with my dead body shall they arise." Hosea 
prophetically affirms, " the Lord hath smitten, and he 
will bind us up : after two days will he revive us : on 
the third he will raise us up, and we shall live in his 
sight." 

Although the resurrection of the moral faculties of 
the soul, from the death thereof by sin, appears exem- 
plified in the vision of the prophet Ezekiel, yet the 
resurrection of the body seems also to be strongly pre- 
figured thereby. The Spirit of the Lord inquires of the 
Prophet, "can these dry bones live?" the Prophet replies, 
" Lord, thou knowest." " Prophecy on these bones, and 
I will cause breath to enter in, and they shall live." The 
Prophet prophesied, and " bone came to his bone, and 
flesh and sinews;" "and he prophesied to the four 
winds, and breath came into them, and they stood upon 
their feet, an exceeding great army." 

In the meridian splendor of the Christian dispensa- 
tion, however, there is not merely a revelation of the 
design and purpose of Infinite Goodness in relation to 



36 

the resurrection of the body and a future state, but 
they were exemplified and demonstrated by the resur- 
rection of Christ from the dead, and by his triumphant 
ascension to Heaven. 

Upon the Gentile nations, who had not been favored 
as were the descendants of Abraham, "the Sun of Right- 
eousness has indeed now arisen with healing in his 
wings ;" for the " wall of partition" between the Israel- 
ites and other nations was removed ; for Christ, the seed 
promised to Abraham, was come, and in him " all the 
nations of the earth should be blessed." 

Not only were the designs of Infinite Mercy in the 
redemption and resurrection of men, of every "nation, 
kindred, tongue and people" revealed, but they were 
clearly adapted to all nations, and every age of time, 
embracing the interests of the whole world ; " for as 
in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made 
alive." 

The dispensation of the Gospel is supported by the 
united evidence of prophecies fulfilled, or fulfilling, and 
of miracles, both numerous and unequivocal ; it instructs 
us upon the existence of God ; the infinitude of his at- 
tributes, the impartiality of his providence. It is suited 
to the condition of man ; treats him as a creature fallen 
from innocence and happiness ; in this situation it in- 
forms us of the free grace of God, through the sacrifice 
and atonement of Jesus Christ, and promises pardon to 
the truly penitent through his obedience, mediation, 
and death, and gives us the full and glorious expecta- 
tion of inheriting the blessings of life everlasting. 

The sanctions of this dispensation, of " peace on 
earth and good will toward man," arc invisible and 



37 

future ; it declares not only that the dead shall be raised, 
but that after the general resurrection all human beings 
shall be tried before an unerring tribunal ; and it clearly 
reveals two distinct conditions of the two classes, after 
the general judgment — one of happiness, and the other 
of misery. 

Strong and true lines are drawn in the sacred pages 
of the Gospel, by which every individual may form an 
opinion of his present state, and future expectations. 
"To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his ser- 
vants ye are whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, 
or of obedience unto righteousness : the wages of sin 
is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, through our 
Lord Jesus Christ." Not to feel an intensity of interest, 
therefore, relative to the resurrection of the body for a 
spiritual and everlasting existence, would appear dero- 
gatory to the human understanding. 

The denunciations of the Supreme Judge against the 
finally impenitent, whether the language is received 
literally or figuratively, embraces such epithets as can- 
not fail to impress the mind with an idea of intense and 
everlasting suffering; while the contrasts presented, 
and the comparisons employed, between the present 
state and the immortal state, are as clearly designed to 
represent the perfection, glory, and perpetuity of bliss, 
attendant on that form of existence. 

There will be an everlasting deliverance from all the 
evils that were introduced by transgression. The asp- 
envenomed tongue, and the breath of the slanderer will 
be excluded from thence ; and an infinite increase of 
such objects as are most esteemed here, both in value 



38 

and character, and a higher capacity given for their 
enjoyment. 

When we meet, there will be no more apprehensions 
of painful separations; no more sorrow, pain, or sick- 
ness ; and " there shall be no night there." " The sun 
shall no more be thy light by day, nor the moon by 
night ; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and 
the days of thy mourning shall be ended ;" — " everlast- 
ing joy shall be unto the inhabitants thereof; sorrow 
and sighing shall flee away ; and there shall be no more 
death." 

Christ, in his humiliation, said "in my Father's house 
are many mansions ; if it were not so I would have told 
you; but I go to prepare a place for you:" "a building 
of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the 
Heavens." 

This state is also represented as an inheritance ; and 
as the inheritance of the Israelites in the promised land 
was divided by lot, so it is said " thou shalt stand in thy 
lot at the end of the days;" and the Heavenly inheri- 
tance "is incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away." 
It is also compared to a city ; but it is a city that hath 
" everlasting foundations, whose builder and maker is 
God ; its walls are of jasper, its foundations of precious 
stones, the streets thereof of pure gold, transparent as 
glass." It is also compared to a kingdom ; but it is the 
" kingdom of God that can never be moved." 

Those who have a part in the first resurrection, they 
are indeed pronounced " blessed ;" for both soul and 
body will be fully prepared for that abode of glory. 

The body, though " sown in weakness, will be raised 



39 

in power ;" though " sown a natural body, it will be 
raised a spiritual body ;" though " sown in corruption, 
it will be raised in incorruption ;" and when this mortal 
shall put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass 
the saying that is written, "death is swallowed up in 
victory." 

Thus will the body, as well as the soul, be qualified 
for the clear perception and everlasting enjoyment of 
objects and wonders formed by a Being whose attri- 
butes are infinite, and an enlarged and extended capa- 
city given to enjoy forever the boundless and unfading 
scenes of the paradise of God. 

The estimation in which we hold the characteristics 
of our brother, we have endeavored to exemplify ; as 
also the existence of a general and special providence 
of the Infinite Supreme, in the government of the uni- 
verse, and all things that he hath created therein ; and 
the divine revelation of infinite love and mercy, as un- 
folded in the plentitude of the glorious Gospel of the 
Son of God, by which " life and immortality are brought 
to light." 

This system displays and illustrates the purposes of 
Infinite Mercy in permitting the introduction of evil, 
and it has unfolded to mankind, in its unerring pages a 
higher, brighter, and more glorious state of being than 
that which was lost by the fall of our first progenitors. 
They lost to themselves and to all their descendants an 
earthly paradise of human bliss, and entailed upon the 
world all the suffering that humanity is heir to ; but from 
seeming evil God has ever been educing good ; and 
"better still, in infinite progression," until body and 
soul will be gloriously prepared, and made meet for 



40 

the everlasting enjoyment of the heavenly paradise of 
God. " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath 
it entered into the heart of man to conceive, the glory 
that God hath prepared for them that love him." 

It is true that in our present state we frequently find, 
or fancy we find, that drops of sweetness are 6t dashed 
with bitter bowls ;" that gleams of sunshine are often- 
times prelusive of renewing storms; but the land of 
Canaan, that was promised to the descendants of Abra- 
ham, and was typical of the eternal rest that remaineth, 
was not put into their possession for four hundred and 
sixty years after that promise was made ; and when the 
set time approached, the children of Israel were deli- 
vered with an "high hand" from their bondage and their 
task-masters, and were led for forty years in the wilder- 
ness, and had, last of ail, to pass over Jordan before 
they could obtain possession of the land of promise. 

So, beyond the narrow stream of death the bright 
land of promise lies; and how exhilirating the prospect — 
how august the scene, when the glories of the heavenly 
Canaan, as drawn by the infallible pen of divine inspi- 
ration, arises, almost in open vision, before the enrap- 
tured mind ! 

44 Hail radiant ages ! Hail ! and haste along ; 

To reasoning men your splendid years belong ; 

Unclose your leaves of true unfabled gold, 

That hidden lie in Heaven's bright volume roll'd. 

Hail holy vision ! lamp of love and peace, 

Thy sacred cresent shines, whose bright increase 

Shall fill the world with plenitude of light, 

And reach a glorious full, that ne'er shall wane to night." 

As the life of our deceased brother was strongly 
marked by a course of active and useful exertion, so his 



41 



dosing moments were peaceful and serene. He suffer- 
ed little bodily pain when near the moment of dissolu- 
tion, for Providence kindly diminishes sensibility as the 
acuteness of disease increases. And 

" We know 
The illustrious deliverer of mankind, 
Hath conquered death, hath led the way to heaven ; 
Nor are his friends shut out. ' Then the last end 
Of the wood man is peace." 



The Author of the foregoing Address desires to make his very 
respectful acknowledgments, for the early part of the history of the 
Quincy family, to the use of a Manuscript prepared many years 
since, with great care, and giving evidence of much historical re- 
search, hy the late Hon. Richard Cranch; who was for many years 
a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, for the County of Suffolk, 
and member of the Senate of the State of Massachusetts, and the father 
of Hon. Wm, Cranch, Chief Justice of the District of Columbia ; born 
in Kingsbridge, Devonshire, England, in 1726, and died in Boston 
in 1811, at the age of 85 years. For most of the genealogy of the 
later period, he is indebted to a highly interesting Memoir of the 
late Josiah Quincy, by Josiah Quincy, Jun., published at Boston in 
the year 1825. 

Washington, December 5, 1840. 



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